Written Answers Monday 5 December 2005

Scottish Executive

Central Heating Programme

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) pensioners’ homes in the (i) West Dunbartonshire and (ii) East Dunbartonshire local authority area are estimated to be eligible for free central heating under the central heating installation programme.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Estimates of eligibility are based on data contained in the Scottish House Condition Survey 2002. However, that survey does not produce reliable estimates at local authority level.

Central Heating Programme

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the maximum grant entitlement under the Warm Deal scheme.

Malcolm Chisholm: We are in the process of completing a short consultation exercise on the Scottish Executive’s fuel poverty programmes and will consider increasing the maximum grant entitlement for the warm deal scheme as part of this process.

Children and Young People

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to improve services to children at risk.

Robert Brown: I would draw your attention to the Partnership for a Better Scotland document at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/government/pfbs-00.asp which sets out the Scottish Executive’s commitments in relation to children, young people and their families.

  This confirms our commitment to ensuring that all children get the best start in life. There is a wide range of work underway to help achieve our vision that children are nurtured, safe, active, healthy, achieving, included, respected and responsible.

  These include the three year child protection reform programme which is now in its final year where the multi-disciplinary action team continues to work closely with practitioners and agencies to ensure that children get the help they need when they need it. Information on the range of work being undertaken within the programme, which includes embedding the framework for standards across all agencies, delivery of a training and development framework for practitioners with a suite of national training materials to underpin this, follow up of assurances from local services that child protection has been reviewed and issues acted upon, is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/childprotection.

  Guidelines for education have recently been revised and the publication of Safe and Well earlier this year makes clear the role of staff, schools and education authorities in supporting and protecting children and young people.

  Pilot inspections of child protection services in two areas were undertaken earlier this year and a full programme will rollout from next year. A range of Quality Indicators have been developed to support this programme building on the Framework for Standards and the need to ensure effective inter-agency working that is child-centred.

  The Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003, which established a Disqualified from Working with Children List, was commenced in January 2005 to aid safer recruitment and help ensure those who are unsuitable to work with children are not able to do so.

  Getting It Right For Every Child in June 2005, was a consultation on revisions to the Children’s Hearings system and services for children in the longer term available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/06/20135608/56098.

  This also included a single Integrated Assessment Framework to be introduced across all agencies which will provide for a single record for a child and so reduce the risk that information is not appropriately shared. Development in information technology through the eCare programme is helping develop the IT infrastructure to underpin the speedy and efficient sharing of information to help in the early identification of risk and action being taken to reduce this. More information can be found at http://www.ecare-scotland.gov.uk/.

Climate Change

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what actions have been taken to limit the negative environmental effects created by greenhouse gas emissions.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is limiting the negative environmental effects of greenhouse gas emissions by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, as a contribution to wider global reduction efforts, and taking action to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

  The Executive’s consultation on the review of its Scottish Climate Change Programme (a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib. number 38184) was published in December last year and summarised the Executive’s progress to date in responding to the threat of climate change. In September this year I announced that data published in Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990 – 2003 (Bib. number 37621) showed that greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland had fallen by 10% compared with Kyoto baselines.

  Together with the UK Government, we have recently launched a consultation as the first stage in the development of a national climate change Adaptation Policy Framework. The document describes some of the action already taken by the Executive to build adaptive capacity in Scotland. A copy of the consultation document is available on the Executive’s climate change website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange.

Community Planning

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the role of MSPs will be in new community planning partnerships.

Mr Tom McCabe: There is a range of approaches to community planning across the country, and the Executive is not prescriptive about the structure or composition of partnerships that should be adopted either at a strategic local authority level, or locally at neighbourhood level: it is for each partnership to decide on its own arrangements, which may include MSPs alongside a range of other participants. Responsibility for ensuring that suitable arrangements are put in place rests with local authorities in their role as facilitators of the community planning process.

  Community Planning Advice Note 2, on Partnership Models and Structures, sets out some key considerations that partnerships will wish to take into account. Community Planning Advice Notes are available online at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/localgov/cpan-00.asp

  I also refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14673 on 1 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Community Planning

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how MSPs will be kept informed of the work of new community planning partnerships.

Mr Tom McCabe: Local authorities, as facilitators of the community planning process, are required to report regularly to their communities on community planning in their area. Reports should be geared towards the local community and should be widely available.

  Although such reports are not required to be submitted to the Executive or to the Scottish Parliament, reports must demonstrate clearly how the local authority has implemented its duties under section 15 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, including reporting on the means of consulting community bodies (and other public bodies) and a summary of the outcomes of such consultation.

  I also refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19600 on 26 October 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Community Regeneration

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the annual (a) regeneration and (b) community planning partnership budget was originally allocated to the (i) West Dunbartonshire and (ii) East Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1997 and what actual sum was given in each case.

Malcolm Chisholm: Table 1a below show the regeneration budget allocated to West Dunbartonshire through the Executive’s core community regeneration programmes for the period 1997-98 to 2004-05.

  Table 1a: West Dunbartonshire Regeneration Budget Programme

  

 Year
Social Inclusion Partnership* (SIP)
Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF)


 Allocation (£)
 Sum Given (£)
 Allocation (£)
 Sum Given (£)


 1997-98**
 2,209,000
 na
 -
 -


 1998-99**
 2,587,000
 na
 -
 -


 1999-2000
 2,193,000
 2,186,700
 -
 -


 2000-01
 2,087,000
 2,086,373
 -
 -


 2001-02
 2,365,500
 2,283,571
 2,000,000
 2,000,000


 2002-03
 2,514,896
 2,514,896
 3,000,000
 3,000,000


 2003-04
 2,515,937
 2,515,937
 4,000,000
 4,000,000


 2004-05
 2,753,937
 2,753,937
 3,000,000
 3,000,000



  Notes:

  *Figures for SIP include funds allocated through the Community Empowerment Fund and End Year Flexibility.

  **Relates to Programme for Partnership allocation.

  West Dunbartonshire has been allocated £4,956,000 through the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) and £60,000 through the Community Voices programme in 2005-06. These programmes combine and replace the previous SIP and BNSF programmes.

  East Dunbartonshire did not receive SIP or BNSF funding. It has been allocated £271,000 through the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) and £30,000 through the Community Voices programme in 2005-06.

  The only funding specifically earmarked for community planning was allocated in 2002-03 and 2003-04 to support capacity-building around the passage of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003. Both West Dunbartonshire and East Dunbartonshire received £20,000 each in 2002-03 and £15,000 each in 2003-04.

Concessionary Travel

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its funding for the concessionary travel scheme can be ascribed to elderly and disabled people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Tavish Scott: The cost of the Scotland-wide free bus scheme for older and disabled people will be capped at a maximum of £159 million in 2006-07. Estimates of costs below Scotland-level are not available.

Concessionary Travel

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are expected to benefit from the concessionary travel scheme for elderly and disabled people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Tavish Scott: People aged 60 and over and eligible disabled people will be able to use the new Scotland-wide free bus travel scheme for older and disabled people. The number of people aged 60 and over is of the order of 23,000 in West Dunbartonshire and 19,400 in East Dunbartonshire. We estimate that the number of eligible disabled people will increase these totals by about 10%.

Crime

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken since 1997 to reduce the fear of crime among older people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: Since 1999, the Scottish Executive has made record resources available to Strathclyde Police which has resulted in 500 additional officers being recruited, bringing the total strength to over 7,700 officers.

  The deployment and utilisation of these officers on initiatives designed to reduce fear of crime amongst older people is a matter for the chief constable.

Crime

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to improve crime clear-up rates in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: Since 1999, the Scottish Executive has provided record resources to Strathclyde Police. The utilisation of these resources in the fight against crime is for the Chief Constable to decide.

  Information on the most recent clear up rates for the numbers of crimes recorded by the police at local authority level is published in table 6 of the statistical bulletin Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2004-05, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37835).

Crime

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage change has been in recorded crime levels in disadvantaged areas in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1996.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following table. The recorded crime statistics collected centrally cannot distinguish a lower level of detail than the local authority level.

  Percentage change in the numbers of crimes recorded by the police in West Dunbartonshire and East Dunbartonshire, 1996-97 to 2004-05:

  

 
 West Dunbartonshire
 East Dunbartonshire


 1996-97
 -
 -


 1997-98
 -9
 -2


 1998-99
 -5
 1


 1999-2000
 1
 -13


 2000-01
 -9
 -1


 2001-02
 2
 -8


 2002-03
 3
 -6


 2003-04
 -3
 -5


 2004-05
 9
 21



  The increase in crimes recorded in 2004-05 was an expected effect of the introduction of the Scottish Crime Recording Standard.

Dairy Produce

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total supermarket share of the liquid milk market has been since 1999.

Ross Finnie: This information is not available centrally.

  Information supplied by the Milk Development Council is available from 2002 and is provided in the following table.

  

 Year
GB Liquid Milk - Supermarket Share (%)


 2002
 73.5


 2003
 70.9


 2004
 72.3


 2005
 74.4

Dairy Produce

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the impact of the retail price of milk on dairy farmers since 1999.

Ross Finnie: No assessment has been made in precisely these terms, but several reports have assessed the impact of farmgate prices and related supply-chain issues. The most recent of these is the Milk Development Council’s (MDC) Dairy Supply Chain Margins 2004-05 report. The report can be accessed from the MDC’s website at http://www.mdcdatum.org.uk/publications/dscmreport.htm .

Dairy Produce

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dairy farmers have gone out of business since 1999.

Ross Finnie: This information is not held centrally.

  The following table provides information on the number of Scottish holdings classed as dairy and the number of holdings with dairy cows in each year since 1999.

  

 Year
 No. of Holdings Classed as Dairy*
 No. of Holdings with Dairy Cows*


 1999
 1,896
 2,562


 2000
 1,795
 2,397


 2001
 1,624
 2,187


 2002
 1,639
 2,161


 2003
 1,590
 2,096


 2004
 1,569
 2,027


 2005
 1,521
 1,953



  *Source: Agricultural Census.

Domestic Abuse

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions for domestic violence there have been in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area.

Cathy Jamieson: The latest available information on incidents of domestic abuse recorded by the police is included in the statistical bulletin Domestic abuse recorded by the police in Scotland, 1 January-31 December 2004 published by the Scottish Executive in September 2005, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37594). Incidents which result in a conviction are not separately identifiable.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the quantity, quality and condition of the buildings provided for music tuition and rehearsal at the music school of Douglas Academy enable the students to fulfil their potential.

Peter Peacock: East Dunbartonshire Council has responsibility for the management of its entire school estate, including the music school at Douglas Academy. We understand that the rebuilding of Douglas Academy features in the council’s plans for a public private partnership project.

  The 2002 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspection report on Douglas Academy assessed the overall quality of learning and teaching in the music school as very good in performing courses, good in other aspects, and particularly effective in instrumental classes. In the 2004 follow up report, HMIE noted further improvement in the music school’s courses.

Education

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how its policies demonstrate its belief in the value of outdoor education to young people.

Peter Peacock: Ambitious, Excellent Schools, our agenda for education set out our commitment to develop more out of school hours opportunities across a wide range of activities to help young people develop their skills and confidence.

  As part of this commitment we have commissioned Learning and Teaching Scotland to undertake a development programme for outdoor education. The programme will establish the contribution outdoor education can make to develop the four capacities set out in a curriculum for excellence, in and out of school hours.

Education

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what increases in the proportion of children who attain the appropriate levels in reading, writing and maths by the end of primary 2 and primary 7 there have been in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area since 1996.

Peter Peacock: This information is only available from 1998-99 and is contained in the Scottish Executive’s annual Statistics Publication Notice 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools . Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre using the Bib. numbers supplied.

  

 Title
 Bib. Number


 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 2003-04 (by June 2004)
 34652


 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 2002-03 (by June 2003)
 30289


 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 2001-02 (by June 2002)
 25569


 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 2000-01 (by June 2001)
 18788


 5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 1998-99 (by June 1999) and 1999-2000 (by June 2000)
 25343

Employment

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to reduce the gap in unemployment rates between the worst areas in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area and the average rate of unemployment for Scotland as a whole and what the reduction in this gap has been in each year since 1996.

Allan Wilson: The UK Government has the main responsibility for unemployment. Jobcentre Plus (JCP) delivers a range of employment programmes to support individuals into work, specifically through the New Deal. In West Dunbartonshire, Action Teams for Jobs also helps jobless people from disadvantaged groups who may not use JCP mainstream services. A range of complementary services, funded through the Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise, European Social Fund and Local Authorities, such as vocational training (Training for Work), childcare services, financial advice, and the Working for Families Fund (in West Dunbartonshire) supports development of employability skills and the removal of barriers to employment.

  The source of unemployment at ward level is the claimant count, which is the number of people claiming unemployment benefits. Table 1 below shows the unemployment rates for all wards in East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire, the totals for East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire local authorities and the total for Scotland.

  Table 1: Claimant Count Unemployment Rates for East and West Dunbartonshire, 1996-2004

  

 
 
 Unemployment Rate


 1996
 1997
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004


 Scotland
 7.2%
 6.0%
 5.4%
 5.0%
 4.5%
 4.0%
 3.9%
 3.8%
 3.5%


 East Dunbartonshire:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 Barloch
 3.2%
 2.6%
 2.1%
 1.7%
 1.5%
 1.4%
 1.3%
 1.4%
 1.0%


 Keystone
 3.3%
 2.2%
 1.8%
 1.4%
 1.3%
 1.4%
 1.3%
 1.4%
 1.3%


 Craigdhu
 5.3%
 4.4%
 3.9%
 3.1%
 2.8%
 2.2%
 2.0%
 2.4%
 1.7%


 Clober
 4.9%
 3.8%
 3.2%
 2.5%
 2.5%
 2.2%
 2.1%
 2.2%
 1.7%


 Kilmardinny
 2.7%
 1.9%
 1.4%
 0.9%
 0.9%
 1.0%
 1.0%
 0.9%
 0.7%


 Thorn
 3.0%
 2.2%
 1.8%
 1.6%
 1.1%
 1.2%
 1.2%
 1.2%
 0.9%


 Castlehill
 3.9%
 2.9%
 2.5%
 2.2%
 2.2%
 2.0%
 1.8%
 1.8%
 1.4%


 Westerton
 2.9%
 2.8%
 2.1%
 1.4%
 1.5%
 1.5%
 1.6%
 1.6%
 1.2%


 Kessington
 3.1%
 2.5%
 2.1%
 1.5%
 1.7%
 1.4%
 1.4%
 1.4%
 1.4%


 Chapelton
 3.6%
 2.9%
 2.4%
 1.8%
 1.9%
 1.6%
 1.6%
 1.4%
 1.4%


 Hillhead/Broomhill
 14.1%
 12.0%
 11.7%
 10.8%
 10.0%
 8.9%
 7.6%
 7.1%
 6.7%


 Harestanes
 6.0%
 4.6%
 3.9%
 3.4%
 3.3%
 2.8%
 2.7%
 2.7%
 2.2%


 Central
 4.9%
 4.3%
 3.8%
 3.1%
 3.3%
 2.7%
 2.8%
 2.4%
 2.0%


 Woodhead
 4.4%
 3.5%
 3.2%
 2.4%
 2.6%
 2.1%
 2.0%
 1.8%
 1.7%


 Lenzie
 4.0%
 3.1%
 3.0%
 2.8%
 1.9%
 1.6%
 1.7%
 1.4%
 1.2%


 Kenmure and Baldernock
 3.8%
 3.1%
 2.4%
 1.6%
 1.7%
 1.6%
 1.7%
 1.3%
 1.2%


 Cadder
 3.8%
 2.8%
 2.2%
 2.1%
 1.6%
 1.5%
 1.4%
 1.2%
 1.1%


 Woodhill
 3.9%
 3.2%
 2.4%
 1.9%
 1.9%
 1.5%
 1.6%
 1.7%
 1.2%


 Auchinairn/Crowhill
 8.4%
 7.6%
 6.8%
 5.8%
 4.8%
 4.0%
 4.0%
 3.8%
 3.1%


 Campsie and Torrance
 7.0%
 5.7%
 5.6%
 4.5%
 4.0%
 3.7%
 3.9%
 3.5%
 2.6%


 Milton and Gartshore
 5.3%
 4.5%
 4.5%
 3.5%
 3.6%
 3.2%
 2.9%
 3.0%
 2.2%


 South Lenzie/Waterside
 4.4%
 3.1%
 2.8%
 2.1%
 2.0%
 1.7%
 1.7%
 1.8%
 1.2%


 Total East Dunbartonshire
 4.8%
 3.9%
 3.4%
 2.8%
 2.6%
 2.3%
 2.2%
 2.1%
 1.8%


 West Dunbartonshire:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 Whitecrook
 12.6%
 11.5%
 10.8%
 9.3%
 8.2%
 7.4%
 7.3%
 6.3%
 6.0%


 Dalmuir/Central
 15.0%
 13.7%
 12.9%
 12.7%
 10.9%
 10.3%
 10.8%
 9.9%
 8.9%


 Mountblow
 9.7%
 8.9%
 7.3%
 6.7%
 6.0%
 5.7%
 6.1%
 5.6%
 5.4%


 Parkhall
 6.4%
 5.3%
 5.0%
 5.1%
 5.0%
 4.2%
 4.0%
 3.7%
 3.2%


 Linnvale/Drumry
 10.7%
 10.2%
 9.9%
 9.2%
 7.5%
 7.6%
 7.1%
 6.6%
 6.1%


 Kilbowie
 8.4%
 7.5%
 6.9%
 5.5%
 5.0%
 4.6%
 4.9%
 4.6%
 3.8%


 Kilbowie West
 11.4%
 10.5%
 9.0%
 7.8%
 7.1%
 7.0%
 7.2%
 7.2%
 6.5%


 Faifley South
 12.4%
 10.3%
 10.4%
 9.9%
 8.3%
 7.2%
 7.9%
 7.8%
 6.4%


 Faifley North
 15.9%
 14.7%
 12.4%
 12.0%
 10.3%
 9.5%
 10.0%
 8.5%
 7.2%


 Hardgate
 5.3%
 3.7%
 3.4%
 3.3%
 2.9%
 2.5%
 2.3%
 2.4%
 1.9%


 Duntocher
 7.8%
 6.7%
 6.2%
 5.4%
 4.6%
 4.4%
 4.7%
 4.5%
 3.4%


 Old Kilpatrick
 7.2%
 6.4%
 5.9%
 4.8%
 4.5%
 4.5%
 4.5%
 3.9%
 3.1%


 Dumbarton West
 13.4%
 12.9%
 11.9%
 11.0%
 9.8%
 9.3%
 8.9%
 7.1%
 7.2%


 Dumbarton Central
 6.1%
 5.7%
 5.3%
 4.9%
 4.6%
 5.1%
 4.8%
 4.3%
 4.0%


 Dumbarton North
 15.2%
 13.4%
 12.2%
 11.8%
 10.4%
 9.5%
 8.2%
 6.7%
 7.4%


 Dumbarton South
 6.1%
 4.8%
 4.1%
 4.4%
 4.3%
 3.5%
 3.4%
 3.3%
 3.0%


 Dumbarton/Bowling
 5.3%
 4.6%
 4.1%
 3.3%
 3.3%
 3.2%
 3.3%
 2.7%
 2.5%


 Renton/Alexandria South
 9.8%
 8.5%
 8.2%
 7.2%
 7.3%
 7.6%
 7.3%
 6.7%
 6.2%


 Tullichewna/Luss
 8.9%
 7.0%
 6.3%
 5.4%
 4.5%
 4.6%
 4.9%
 4.5%
 3.8%


 Haldane/Kilmaronock
 9.6%
 7.6%
 6.8%
 6.6%
 6.3%
 5.8%
 5.2%
 4.7%
 4.0%


 Bonhill East
 11.5%
 9.3%
 9.6%
 8.1%
 7.5%
 7.3%
 6.0%
 5.7%
 5.5%


 Riverside
 6.7%
 5.7%
 5.7%
 4.6%
 4.3%
 4.8%
 5.0%
 4.4%
 4.3%


 Total West Dunbartonshire
 9.5%
 8.2%
 7.6%
 6.9%
 6.3%
 6.0%
 5.8%
 5.3%
 4.8%



  Source: Office for National Statistics.

Employment

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have gained full-time employment through the Working for Families programme since it was established.

Malcolm Chisholm: At 31 October 2005, over 1,000 parents registered with Working for Families had experienced a successful transition to full and part-time employment, training or education, volunteer work and improved or sustained employment. The current number entering full-time employment was 152.

Employment

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have gained part-time employment through the Working for Families programme since it was established.

Malcolm Chisholm: At 31 October 2005, over 1,000 parents registered with Working for Families had experienced a successful transition to full and part-time employment, training or education, volunteer work and improved or sustained employment. The current number entering part-time employment was 167.

Energy Efficiency

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive which energy efficiency technologies are eligible for domestic grant funding.

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how emerging energy efficiency technologies can become eligible for domestic grant funding.

Nicol Stephen: Support is available through the Scottish Household and Community Renewable Initiative for the installation of small-scale renewables for domestic application. More generally, the Executive provides grant funding to the Energy Saving Trust in Scotland to deliver a range of programmes and advice to promote energy efficiency in the domestic sector.

  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Market Transformation Programme has been encouraging manufacturers to increase the resource efficiency of products by reducing both the "on" and "stand-by" power consumption of household appliances through the adoption of design improvements, voluntary codes of conduct, and best practice guidelines and targets.

Equal Pay

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding it will make available to enable local authorities to implement equal pay.

Mr Tom McCabe: Funding for the salaries and wages paid by local authorities is largely provided for by the Scottish Executive as part of a block grant which, in the current financial year, will amount to £8.1 billion. The block grant is very largely unhypothecated and it is for councils themselves to determine how they spend this in line with local needs and priorities. The funding to be made available for 2006-07, based on provisional figures, amounts to an increase of £258 million (or 3.2%) over the amount to be provided for 2005-06.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with, or communications from, Western Ferries indicating the circumstances and/or timing of a possible complaint by the company to the European Commission alleging the payment of unfair subsidies to Caledonian MacBrayne in respect of the Gourock to Dunoon route.

Tavish Scott: Western Ferries have indicated to the Executive on a number of occasions that it has concerns about the existing subsidy arrangements for Caledonian MacBrayne’s Gourock to Dunoon service. However, we are not aware of Western Ferries ever making an official complaint to the Commission on this particular issue and understand that the company have welcomed the tendering process that the Executive is currently undertaking for the route.

Ferry Services

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in respect of introducing high passenger volume cross-Forth ferry services.

Tavish Scott: A report into options for a cross Forth passenger ferry service was completed in October 2004. I understand that the Forth Estuary Transport Authority, City of Edinburgh Council, Fife Council and Forth Ports Authority are commissioning more detailed work on the options identified in that report, with the study due to complete by summer 2006.

Finance

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it and its agencies have spent on (a) the design and production of new logos and (b) employing external (i) public relations and (ii) graphic design agencies in each year since 1999, broken down by project.

Mr Tom McCabe: The information in the form requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Executive and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek approval from the European Union for a 20% harvest ratio in its negotiations in respect of next year’s west of Scotland nephrops total allowable catch (TAC), based on advice from the Fisheries Research Services Marine Laboratory that this ratio is more appropriate than the 15% previously envisaged by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea and the Advisory Committee on Fishery Management, and whether the Executive will discuss this issue with the Mallaig and North-West Fishermen’s Association and the West of Scotland Fish Producers’ Organisation.

Ross Finnie: I have argued for some time that there is a strong case for an increase in the west coast nephrops TAC. I am pleased to see that the Commission’s proposals for this TAC reflect the advice from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) that there should be a 39% increase. My officials, and I, have already discussed this issue with Mallaig and North West Fishermen’s Association and the West of Scotland Fish Producers Organisation and would be happy to do so again.

Football

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many football pitches in each local authority area do not have adjoining changing facilities, broken down by type of pitch and expressed also as a percentage of the total number of pitches.

Mr Stewart Maxwell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many football pitches in each local authority area do not have separate changing facilities for women, broken down by type of pitch and expressed also as a percentage of the total number of pitches.

Patricia Ferguson: This information is not held centrally.

G8 Summit

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what investigations it has undertaken into the full economic impact of the G8 summit and G8-related protests and demonstrations, such as costs for extra security, added insurance and loss of business, broken down by local authority area.

Mr Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19841 on 1 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Gaelic

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that more graduates of Scottish Gaelic will be fluent speakers.

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why students of Scottish Gaelic are not required to spend an academic year in a Gaelic-speaking environment to improve their fluency in the language.

  The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:

  A dh’fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba carson nach fheum oileanaich na Gaidhlig, eu-coltach ri oileanaich chànanan ùra eile, bliadhna acadamaigeach a chur seachad ann an àrainneachd Ghàidhlig gus am fileantas anns a’ chànain a leasachadh.

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the standard of Higher Gaelic is sufficiently high to enable students to deal with an academic course in the language.

  The member has provided the following Gaelic translation:

  A dh’fhaighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba de na ceumannan a thathar a’ gabhail gus dèanamh cinnteach gu bheil an ìre de Ghàidhlig aig Àrd-ire àrd gu leòr gus am bi e comasach do dh’oileanaich cùrsa acadamaigeach a dhèanamh tron chànain.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of maintaining a high standard for Gaelic qualifications and ensuring courses are available which meet the needs of both Gaelic learners and fluent speakers. The detailed delivery of these is a matter for particular Scottish public bodies and academic institutions. The standard of Higher Gaelic courses, both for learners and fluent speakers, is a matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority which has procedures in place to ensure that its courses are kept under constant review. The content and delivery of further and higher education Gaelic courses is a matter for the institutions themselves and for the Scottish Funding Council. Scottish ministers have advised the Scottish Funding Council that they regard "responding to the needs of the community for further and higher education courses, taught in the Gaelic language, as a fundamental element in the achievement of our policy of promoting Gaelic".

  The Scottish Executive has provided the following translation:

  Tha Riaghaltas na h-Alba ag aithneachadh cho cudromach ‘s a tha e a bhith a’ cumail suas deagh inbhe ann an teisteanasan Gàidhlig agus ann a bhith a’ dèanamh cinnteach gu bheil cùrsaichean Gàidhlig rim faotainn a tha a’ coinneachadh ri feumalachdan luchd-ionnsachaidh agus fileantaich. Tha libhrigeadh nan cùrsaichean sin na dhleastanas air buidhnean poblach sònraichte an Alba agus air ionadan acadaimeagach. Tha inbhe chùrsa Àrd-ìre na Gàidhlig, an dà chuid do luchd-ionnsachaidh agus fileantaich na uallach air Ùghdarras Theisteanais na h-Alba aig a bheil modhan suidhichte gus dèanamh cinnteach gu bheil na cùrsaichean sa bheil e an sàs an còmhnaidh a’ tighinn fo sgrùdadh. Tha susbaint agus lìbhrigeadh chùrsaichean foghlam adhartach agus àrd-ìre nan uallach air na h-ionadan fhèin agus air Comhairle Maoineachaidh na h-Alba. Tha Ministearan na h-Alba air comhairle a thoirt do Chomhairle Maoineachaidh na h-Alba gu bheil iad a’ meas ‘gu bheil e na eileamaid bhunaiteach dhuinn ann a bhith a’ coileanadh ar poileasaidh a bhith ag adhartachadh na Gàidhlig, gum bithear a’ freagairt air feumalachdan na coimhearsnachd a thaobh chùrsaichean foghlam adhartach agus àrd-ìre.’

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it is introducing to enhance capacity-building and self-sufficiency and improve social inclusion in communities in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The Scottish Executive is contributing to the enhancement of capacity-building and self-sufficiency and improving social inclusion in a number of ways via housing and social justice funding initiatives introduced by Communities Scotland:

  In East Dunbartonshire, the Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) has grown from approximately £500,000 per year in 2000 to £3.043 million in 2005-06.

  Communities Scotland also expects to approve expenditure of £85,000 in East Dunbartonshire in 2005-06 from its Wider Role programme for housing associations on a variety of community-focused projects.

  Additionally, East Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership has been allocated a total of £828,000 from the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) for the period 2005-06 to 2007-08, based upon the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The majority of this funding will be spent in the Hillhead and Twechar areas. A further £90,000 has been allocated from the Community Voices Fund, to support capacity building and social inclusion projects between 2005-06 and 2007-08.

  In West Dunbartonshire, Communities Scotland’s programme in Clydebank in the next five years will amount to around £16.7 million, plus an additional £9 million related to Link Housing Association’s programme.

  Communities Scotland also expects to approve expenditure of £822,000 in West Dunbartonshire in 2005-06 from its Wider Role programme.

  West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnership has been allocated a total of £13.368 million from the CRF for the period 2005-06 to 2007-08, based upon the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, and a further £258,000 from Community Voices. Spending will take place largely within the most disadvantaged areas highlighted in the SIMD.

Housing

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what Housing Revenue Account (HRA) debts it has agreed to assume for local authorities which (a) have transferred their former housing stocks to community ownership and (b) are proceeding toward ballots of tenants with a view to transferring stock and, in each case, what former HRA debt has been, or will be, transferred to successor housing management bodies.

Malcolm Chisholm: HM Treasury provided the resources to redeem £1,064 million of residual HRA debt, owed to the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB), in respect of the three councils who transferred their housing stock to community ownership in 2003. Seven further councils have been accepted on to the Community Ownership programme and any residual HRA debt, owed to the PWLB, will similarly be redeemed at the point of transfer. No residual HRA debt has been or will be passed to the successor landlords.

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to the Rough Sleepers Initiative in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area since the inception of the initiative; where in these areas the money has been spent, and how successful the initiative has been.

Malcolm Chisholm: Between 1997 and 2002, local authorities received funding from the Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) on the basis of bids made to the Executive setting out the need for such funding in their area.

  RSI Funding to East and West Dunbartonshire 1997-98 to 2005-061

  

 Year
 East Dunbartonshire
 West Dunbartonshire


 1997-98
£0
£0


 1998-99
£11,200


 1999-2000
£34,300


 2000-01
£46,000
£86,0101


 2001-02
£29,675
£104,347


 2002-03
£30,000
£102,000


 2003-04
£30,000
£102,000


 2004-05
£31,000
£106,000


 2005-06
£32,000
£110,000



  Note: 1. Partnership bid with Argyll and Bute Council.

  Local authorities’ activities funded as a result of RSI have now become integrated with local authorities’ wider homelessness strategies and since 2004-05 these activities have been included within their local outcome agreements, which set out on an annual basis how they are implementing these strategies.

  Within these reporting arrangements, it is for local authorities to decide how and where to spend RSI funding, according to local priorities and pressures. The Executive does not hold information regarding the geographical areas in which funding is spent.

  The final evaluation of the RSI was published in March 2005 (which can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/20886/54982) and concluded that this initiative had achieved significant progress and produced tangible reductions in the need to sleep rough across the country. The evaluation concluded that the RSI enhanced services in cities and often created specific services for the first time in rural and smaller urban areas, and referred positively to services provided in East Dunbartonshire.

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make available more affordable housing in the west of Scotland, in particular in the Bearsden and Milngavie area.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The Executive is making £1.2 billion available over the next three years to meet the need for affordable housing in Scotland. The affordable housing programme is being increased from 18,000 to 21,500 homes; the low cost home ownership programme (including the new Homestake programme) is being expanded, and Communities Scotland is working with local authorities to implement the Community Ownership Programme, which will increase substantially the quality and choice of affordable housing throughout Scotland, particularly in the west. Allocation of investment funding for affordable housing is guided by local authorities’ Local Housing Strategies, which are based on an assessment of local housing market areas.

  Provision of affordable housing in East Dunbartonshire is being addressed by:

  an increase in investment in affordable housing via Housing Association Grant and NHP (New Housing Partnership) funding. This will result in the approval of 111 new units within the current financial year.

  the adoption by the Council of its Affordable Housing Policy, requiring developers of housing to allocate a percentage of their development for affordable units. Up to 922 units could be secured through the implementation of the AHP.

  the council’s New Housing Development programme, which aims to deliver over 120 new homes for rent and low cost home ownership.

  In addition, the council is considering applying for Pressured Area Status designation in 2006, to reduce the impact of the Right to Buy on their stock.

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to reduce the number of households and, in particular, households with children living in temporary accommodation in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area since 1997.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has legislated to end the routine use of unsuitable temporary accommodation for households with children through the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order (S.I. 2004/489) which came into force in December 2004. The legal requirement on local authorities is to use temporary accommodation which meets the standards of suitable accommodation as set out in the order.

  Local authorities use different types of housing in order to provide temporary accommodation; such as furnished and unfurnished flats, hostels and bread and breakfasts, and they have set out in their homelessness strategies how they plan to reduce the use of B&B accommodation.

  The Code of Guidance on Homelessness, which local authorities must have regard of, says that temporary accommodation should not be used unnecessarily and residents of temporary accommodation should be moved onto permanent accommodation as quickly as possible, whilst also ensuring that this is only done at a time when the household is able to sustain permanent accommodation.

Housing

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure the availability of affordable, good-quality housing for people on low incomes in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  Through its development programme, Communities Scotland aims to provide affordable, good quality housing for people on low incomes in both West and East Dunbartonshire Local Authority areas. It is also the aim of Communities Scotland to provide a range of affordable housing options within these areas including social rented provision, low cost home ownership (through a combination of GRO Grant subsidy to private developers and shared ownership/equity housing provided via RSLs) and rented/low cost home ownership housing to meet special needs (elderly, disabled etc.)

  Within West Dunbartonshire in the current financial year 2005-06 Communities Scotland propose to invest over £11 million in the provision of affordable housing and will achieve 142 new unit approvals. Currently this level of investment is set to rise to over £14 million in 2006-07.

  Within East Dunbartonshire Communities Scotland are scheduled to invest just under £2 million in the provision of affordable housing for 2005-06 (with 111 unit approvals) and funding is predicted to increase to over £5 million for affordable housing provision in 2006-07.

  A major component of affordable housing investment will take place within areas of deprivation such as Hillhead in Kirkintilloch and in Twechar, both areas of low income households. As a result of the shortage of available land for building, particularly in higher pressurised market areas such as Milngavie and Bearsden, Communities Scotland is working closely with East Dunbartonshire Council in the operation of its affordable housing policy which requires housing developers to allocate a percentage of their development for affordable units. It is expected that around 900 new affordable houses will be secured through this policy.

Income

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage the provision of low-cost insurance products for people on low incomes.

Johann Lamont: We have taken a number of actions. We have invested £2.1 million directly to grow the credit union movement in Scotland to equip them to increase membership and further develop their services to their members, including insurance services.

  In 2003-04, the Executive made funding of £500,000 available to local authorities and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) in order that they could run seminars and workshops and produce leaflets to encourage the uptake of home contents insurance among tenants.

  The Executive’s aim is to increase the number of tenants who have home contents insurance cover and we are looking at how we can support schemes tied to rents paid to landlords in the socially rented sector.

  We shall also continue working with the insurance industry to ensure that as many households as possible have access to low cost insurance, including in flood risk areas.

Justice

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether agreement has been formally reached with the Scottish Police Federation, at both national and local level, in respect of taking finger and palm print impressions from all serving police officers and holding the impressions on an computerised database to enable IDENT1 searches of crime scene marks to be carried out.

Cathy Jamieson: At present all fingerprints of serving police officers are held in hard copy format for elimination purposes. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland are considering the possibility of creating a Police Eliminations Database as a partioned part of the IDENT1 project as it would make sense to transfer police officers’ prints from their existing format.

Justice

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in respect of the introduction of the non-numeric fingerprint standard; when it will be implemented, and whether the disagreement between fingerprint experts in the Scottish Fingerprint Service has had any impact on any delay.

Cathy Jamieson: Preparations to enable the introduction of a non-numeric standard for fingerprint evidence in Scotland are well advanced. To that end, plans are being put in place for a national consultative process with all stakeholders in the Scottish Criminal Justice Community. There is no disagreement between experts in the Scottish Fingerprint Service about the introduction of a non-numeric standard of fingerprint identification.

Justice

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the Scottish Prison Service and other relevant agencies, including the police, monitor the treatment and welfare of prisoners being transported or held at Scottish airports to ensure that no crimes are committed in Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson: Individuals being transported via a Scottish airport between a prison in Scotland and custody elsewhere the United Kingdom are escorted in Scotland by Reliance Custodial Services (RCS).

  The contract for the Prisoner Escorting and Court Custody Services is available on the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) website at www.sps.gov.uk. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 makes provision for the monitoring of such a contract and these duties are undertaken by a SPS Monitor Team. The act also gives Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) a specific remit "to inspect the conditions in which prisoners are transported or held".

  If a prisoner is being imported directly to Scotland from outside the UK, or exported from custody in Scotland direct to a country outside the UK, the role otherwise performed by RCS is carried out by the SPS and is in accordance with the relevant SPS Security Standard and may be subject to inspection by HMCIP.

  If a foreign civil aircraft is transiting through a Scottish airport it can, under the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, make stops for technical reasons such as refuelling without requiring the permission of the state it stops in. Accordingly, neither the UK Government, nor Scottish ministers, nor the police have any knowledge as to the passengers on such flights. However, where there is evidence that a criminal act occurs on UK territory the local police can investigate in the ordinary way.

Justice

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive in how many cases where arrest warrants have been issued by Glasgow District Court and Glasgow Sheriff Court no proceedings were taken by the Procurator Fiscal in each of the last five years.

Colin Boyd QC: The following table provides details of the number of accused where court proceedings were initiated and a warrant was issued by Glasgow Sheriff Court or Glasgow District Court but the warrant was subsequently withdrawn by the Procurator Fiscal and the case against the accused closed. The table relates to accused recorded in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database as having a last marking of "No Further Proceedings – Warrant Withdrawn". It is possible that there were some accused whose cases were marked as "No Further Proceedings" for other reasons (e.g. "Accused Dead", "Accused in Prison" or "Acceptable Explanation Offered") where a warrant had been issued at some stage during the proceedings, but such cases are not readily identifiable from the information held on the Database.

  Accused Marked "No Further Proceedings – Warrant Withdrawn": Glasgow1

  

 Year2
 Number of Accused
 Total Number of Court Appearances During Year Resulting in Grant of Warrant


 2002-03
 1,825
 25,487


 2003-04
 2,813
 20,130


 2004-05
 1,160
 16,808



  Notes:

  1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies.

  2. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain complete data which is capable of electronic analysis.

Justice

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage change there has been in recorded crime levels committed against older people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1996.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not available centrally. The recorded crime statistics collected centrally do not include any information on the circumstances of the crime, such as the age of the victim.

Local Government

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which local government services it considers are overstaffed, broken down by local authority.

Mr Tom McCabe: Staffing of local government services is a matter for local authorities and will vary according to local circumstances and priorities. It is for local authorities to consider how the efficiency of their services can be improved, taking account of best working practices and developments in technology.

Mental Health

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to prevent mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression in the (a) NHS Greater Glasgow, (b) Clydebank and (c) Milngavie and Bearsden area.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is committed to supporting the promotion of positive mental health and well-being and the prevention of mental illness. Delivering for Health sets out the Executive’s plans to build the lessons of the Doing Well by People with Depression programme into mainstream NHS mental health service delivery across every health board in Scotland.

  NHS Greater Glasgow has invested £3 million in developing a new tier of services dedicated to common mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. These services support preventative measures such as early intervention in treating mental illness and promoting positive mental health.

  NHS Greater Glasgow works in partnership with local statutory and voluntary services to supplement action on prevention of mental illness through its Community Mental Health Teams, this includes the Clydebank, Milngavie and Bearsden areas.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is issued to GPs regarding treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive does not issue clinical guidelines. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN), which is a part of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, is funded to develop clinical guidelines but has not issued any on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. The English National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently developing a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis guideline which will be available to clinicians in Scotland.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has awarded for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) services or research since the CFS/ME short-life working group reported in 2002.

Lewis Macdonald: NHS boards are given unified budgets, increased by an average of 7.6% in the current financial year, from which they are expected to meet the costs of services for people with CFS/ME and all other chronic conditions. It is for NHS boards to decide how their unified budgets should be distributed, based on their assessments of local needs.

  The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department, has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. CSO is currently contributing £250,000 to the Medical Research Council project Pacing, Activity and Cognitive behaviour therapy: a randomised Evaluation (PACE) which compares different approaches to the clinical management of patients with CFS/ME.

National Health Service

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20554 by Lewis Macdonald on 21 November 2005, how many audiology staff have been employed in each NHS board area in each year since 1999, broken down by (a) discipline and (b) location.

Lewis Macdonald: The answer to question S2W-20554, given on 21 November, states that data on "audiology staff" can only be provided for certain groups. These are medical staff, audiological scientists and medical technical officers. Information by location is not held centrally. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The information requested is given in tables 1-3 of Audiology staff employed in each NHS board area in each year since 1999, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 38251).

National Health Service

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20621 by Mr Andy Kerr on 23 November 2005, what remuneration system that includes prescribing as part of the patient’s overall package of health care will be put in place for pharmacists and what mechanisms will be put in place to audit prescribing by pharmacists.

Lewis Macdonald: NHS community pharmacy contractors will be remunerated for the provision of care, for example to patients with common clinical conditions through the minor ailments service and for contributing to the management of chronic disease.

  The mechanisms used to audit pharmacist prescribing will be similar to the systems used currently to audit the prescribing of general medical practitioners.

New Futures Fund

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what projects have been funded by the New Futures Fund in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area and how much has been allocated to each project since the inception of the fund.

Allan Wilson: Scottish Enterprise (SEn), which manages New Futures Fund, has provided funding for the following projects since its inception in 1998;

  In East Dunbartonshire Lowmoss Prison Offenders project £55,000, East Dunbartonshire Council Multi Agency Drug and Alcohol Forum £129,118.

  In West Dumbarton; Dumbarton Area Drug Initiative - Alternatives £74,118, NCH Action for Children Scotland - Homeless project £96,300 and West Dumbarton partnership project £536,987.

Personal and Nursing Care

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken since 1997 to increase the proportion of older people in the (a) East Dunbartonshire and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area who are able to live independently as a result of increasing home care opportunities.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive has introduced a range of polices designed to assist older people live healthy independent lives such as free personal and nursing care, supporting people, care and repair scheme and rapid response teams. It has made provision for community care expenditure by local authorities of £48 million annually since 2003-04 to enable older people to be supported at home, and for a further £13 million in 2006-07 and £15 million in 2007-08 to enable older people to have faster access to home care services.

  Building a Better Scotland published in September 2004 a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 33956) introduced a national target to increase the number of older people receiving 10 or more hours home care to enable more older people to live or be cared for in their own homes.

  Home Care Services, Scotland 2005 a Statistics Release published on 30 November 2005 notes the latest national statistics for home care services provided or purchased by local authorities in Scotland.

Personal and Nursing Care

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that people living in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area who are eligible for free personal and nursing care receive such care.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive has provided significant sums to local authorities to enable them to meet their free personal care commitments.

Personal and Nursing Care

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its funding for free personal and nursing care was allocated to the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Lewis Macdonald: West Dunbartonshire are allocated £801,000 and East Dunbartonshire £2,115,000 from the Free Personal and Nursing Care Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) line, for people in care homes, for the current financial year, 2005-06.

  Free personal care for people at home is included in the services for home-based elderly GAE line. From this line, West Dunbartonshire has been allocated £9,422,000 and East Dunbartonshire £8,122,000.

  Local authority GAE, including community care for older people, is published on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/gaestats.

  Local authority revenue expenditure, known as GAE, is funded by a combination of centrally provided government funding through Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and funding raised by local authorities through council tax. Local authorities are free to spend above or below the GAE level, according to their own local needs and priorities. The money that local authorities receive through AEF is, in the main, provided by way of a block grant and not allocated to specific services.

  GAE is allocated to individual local authorities on the basis of a needs-based distribution formula agreed with COSLA. GAE forms part of the complex formula used to calculate one revenue grant figure for each local authority.

Personal and Nursing Care

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of older people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area have been living on low incomes in each year since 1996.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available.

  The official source of low income data for Scotland is the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset available from 1994-95. This is derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The sample size of the FRS in Scotland is relatively small and can only be used to provide information for Scotland as a whole.

  The following link provides the latest low income headline figures for Scotland (2003-04), together with data for previous years. This was published on 30 March 2005: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/29170611/06123.

Planning

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how the proposed Planning Bill will ensure the protection of the historic environment.

Patricia Ferguson: The Planning Bill will lay the foundations for a planning system that will serve Scotland’s aspirations for prosperity, a better environment and greater participation. Its primary purpose is not to address the protection of the historic environment but it will provide an opportunity to update some of the detailed provisions of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

  The Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland has been asked by Scottish ministers to advise on whether there is a need to review heritage protection legislation in Scotland. They are due to report in May 2006. Ministers will then consider whether revised legislation for the protection of the historic environment is required.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether police forces should consider the guidelines contained in police circular 08/2003 on eyesight standards for entry to the police service as being mandatory.

Cathy Jamieson: No. Appointment to the police service is a matter for the Chief Constable rather than the Scottish Executive.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether anomalous trichromacy would be regarded as a sufficient reason to debar an applicant from entry to the police service.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has issued guidance to the effect that mild anomalous trichomats should be treated as normal whereas severe anomalous trichomats, while still acceptable, should nonetheless be considered in the context of their impact on certain policing activities.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will update the guidance to the police on the eyesight standards for entry to the police service contained in police circular 08/2003.

Cathy Jamieson: We have no current plans to update Police Circulars 08/2003.

Police

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what recourse is available to an applicant who is refused entry to the police service and who believes that this refusal is in error and is based on a misinterpretation of the guidelines on eyesight standards.

Cathy Jamieson: While the Scottish Executive has issue guidance on eyesight standards, appointment to the police service is ultimately a matter for the Chief Constable.

  Any applicant who has been refused entry to the police service on medical grounds may write to the force medical advisor seeking a review. If the applicant believes that the decision to refuse was discriminatory then another option is to seek redress through the courts.

Poverty

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of working-age people have been living on low income in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1996.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not available.

  The official source of low income data for Scotland is the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) dataset available from 1994-95. This is derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The sample size of the FRS in Scotland is relatively small and can only be used to provide information for Scotland as a whole.

  The following link provides the latest low income headline figures for Scotland (2003-04), together with data for previous years. This was published on 30 March 2005: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/03/29170611/06123.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive in which of the months, April, May and June, Reliance’s monthly percentage of late returns to any location has exceeded 5% of the total returns in the financial year 2005-06 to date.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The information requested is not available. However, if there were problems with late returns establishments would inform the Escorts Monitor and appropriate action would be taken.

Prison Service

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has recently been a change of policy in respect of imprisoning offenders under 21 in the adult estate.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The policy has not changed. We are moving Young Offenders to alternative accommodation to avoid potential difficulties with doubling up and slopping out.

Prison Service

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions Reliance has been unable to carry out requests from the Scottish Prison Service to escort prisoners in the last year.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-17354 on 24 June 2004 which sets out what information the SPS and Reliance have agreed to publish. The information requested does not fall within the scope of this agreement. This information can be seen on the SPS website at www.sps.gov.uk. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17406 by Cathy Jamieson on 30 June 2005, whether the Chief Executive or any other official of the Scottish Prison Service instructed Premier Prison Services Ltd to commission the independent report in respect of HM Prison Kilmarnock or whether Premier Prison Services Ltd took the decision itself to commission such a report.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  I refer the member to the question S2W-17406 answered on 30 June 2005. The SPS did not do so. It was the Company’s decision. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Prison Service

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of transferring a prisoner from a regular prison to an open prison.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  For two main reasons, first to test and help prepare suitable long-term prisoners for their return to society, secondly to manage carefully selected low supervision prisoners in the most cost-effective manner currently available. Many prison services operate a mix of closed and open prisons.

  Society benefits first from these long-term prisoners being carefully prepared, in stages, for release. This is particularly true of life sentence prisoners, who follow a carefully structured pre-release programme in consultation with the Parole Board. Secondly it saves taxpayers money by not placing carefully selected prisoners in more secure and expensive prisons than is necessary.

Rail Network

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the benefits are of completing the Larkhall to Milngavie rail line.

Tavish Scott: The benefits of completing the Larkhall to Milngavie rail line are that it will:

  allow an increased frequency of services between Milngavie and central Glasgow and between Hamilton and central Glasgow;

  reconnect Larkhall to the rail network, making this Scotland’s first fully reopened branch rail link for more than 25 years;

  remove an operational bottleneck on the Northern Suburban line, improving reliability;

  create a new station at Kelvindale, serving business and housing growth in the vicinity;

  create three new stations on the Larkhall Branch: Merryton, Chatelherault and Larkhall;

  encourage modal shift from private car to public transport, and

  improve access to employment, leisure and education opportunities.

Rail Network

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it now expects the first trains to run on the Larkhall to Milngavie rail line.

Tavish Scott: The Larkhall Branch will be officially opened by the First Minister on Friday 9 December 2005. Thereafter, services will begin on Monday 12 December 2005.

Road Accidents

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fatal, (b) serious and (c) minor road accidents have been recorded on each section of the A76 in the last five years.

Tavish Scott: The number of injury accidents recorded on each section of the A76 in each of the last five years (January 2000 to December 2004) is as follows:

  1. A75 Glasgow Road Roundabout to B729 Junction

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 2
 4
 6


 2001
 0
 3
 4
 7


 2002
 0
 0
 6
 6


 2003
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2004
 0
 1
 2
 3



  2. B729 Junction to Dalswinston

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 1
 1
 2
 4


 2001
 0
 1
 2
 3


 2002
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2003
 0
 0
 6
 6


 2004
 0
 1
 2
 3



  3. Dalswinton to Thornhill

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 4
 4


 2001
 0
 1
 2
 3


 2002
 0
 1
 2
 3


 2003
 0
 1
 1
 2


 2004
 0
 3
 5
 8



  4. Thornhill to A702 Junction, Thornhill

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2001
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2002
 0
 1
 1
 2


 2003
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2004
 0
 3
 5
 8



  5. A702 Junction, Thornhill to A702 Junction, Carronbridge

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2001
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2002
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2003
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2004
 0
 1
 0
 1



  6. A702 Junction, Carronbridge to Petrol Station, Sanquhar

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 1
 2
 2
 5


 2001
 0
 3
 2
 5


 2002
 1
 1
 3
 5


 2003
 0
 2
 3
 5


 2004
 0
 1
 2
 3



  7. Petrol Station, Sanquhar to Manse Junction

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2001
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2002
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2004
 0
 0
 1
 1



  8. Manse Junction to Kelloholm

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2001
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2002
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2003
 0
 1
 3
 4


 2004
 0
 1
 1
 2



  9. Kelloholm to Kirkland

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2001
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2002
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2004
 0
 0
 1
 1



  10. Kirkland to East Ayrshire Boundary

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2001
 0
 0
 4
 4


 2002
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2004
 0
 0
 3
 3



  11. East Ayrshire Boundary to Polquhirter West Junction

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2001
 0
 1
 2
 3


 2002
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2004
 0
 0
 1
 1



  12. Polquhirter West Junction to Rottenyard Farm

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2001
 0
 2
 1
 3


 2002
 0
 2
 2
 4


 2003
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2004
 0
 1
 1
 2



  13. Rottenyard Farm to Skerrington Roundabout

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2001
 0
 1
 2
 3


 2002
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2003
 1
 0
 1
 2


 2004
 0
 0
 5
 5



  14. Skerrington Roundabout to A70 Cumnock Roundabout

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2001
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2002
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2003
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2004
 0
 0
 2
 2



  15. A70 Cumnock Roundabout to B7063 Auchinleck Roundabout

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 1
 0
 0
 1


 2001
 0
 1
 0
 1


 2002
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 0
 0


 2004
 0
 1
 0
 1



  16. B7063 Auchinleck Roundabout to B705 Catrine Road Junction

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 1
 0
 3
 4


 2001
 1
 0
 2
 3


 2002
 1
 0
 3
 4


 2003
 1
 1
 3
 5


 2004
 0
 3
 1
 4



  17. B705 Catrine Road Junction – Hillhead Junction

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2001
 0
 0
 2
 2


 2002
 0
 1
 1
 2


 2003
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2004
 0
 0
 4
 4



  18. Hillhead Junction – Cessnock Water Bridge

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 1
 6
 7


 2001
 1
 3
 4
 8


 2002
 0
 3
 3
 6


 2003
 0
 1
 1
 2


 2004
 0
 1
 2
 3



  19. Cessnock Water Bridge to Hurlford Interchange

  

 Year
 Fatal
 Serious
 Slight
 Total


 2000
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2001
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2002
 0
 0
 1
 1


 2003
 0
 0
 3
 3


 2004
 0
 0
 4
 4



  The figures quoted may differ slightly from those published elsewhere because they were extracted on a different date and the database may have changed between the two dates e.g. due to late returns or corrections to earlier returns.

Roads

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to use settling ponds in the design of the A68 Dalkeith northern bypass to avoid pollution of the River Esk and other watercourses and whether (a) all planning consents are in place and (b) the necessary land has been purchased for such ponds.

Tavish Scott: Settling ponds will be part of the design of the drainage of the Dalkeith Northern Bypass. The necessary planning consent for the scheme was confirmed under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 in 1993.

  Land for the settling ponds is being acquired by agreement.

Roads

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether all the necessary planning consents and land purchases are in place for the A68 Dalkeith northern bypass.

Tavish Scott: The necessary planning consent for the scheme was confirmed under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947 in 1993.

  Land for settling ponds is being acquired by agreement.

Roads

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19932 by Tavish Scott on 10 November 2005, how the economic benefits of the A68 Dalkeith northern bypass have been reassessed; when this work was carried out and by whom, and whether a report of the reassessment is available for consultation.

Tavish Scott: The department’s design agents, W A Fairhurst & Partners have been appointed to carry out this work. While this an on-going process, the preliminary results indicate that the scheme remains economically sound. On completion the results of the reassessment will be available for public inspection.

Roads

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19856 by Tavish Scott on 10 November 2005, what substantial advance earthworks and ground consolidation have been undertaken in respect of the A68 Dalkeith northern bypass and where such works are located.

Tavish Scott: Advance earthworks were carried out at the former open cast sites at Home Farm and Bellyford Burn. Ground consolidation works were undertaken in the vicinity of Langside Farm. All of these works were within the limit of land acquired for the scheme.

Roads

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the A68 Dalkeith northern bypass will be single carriageway and, if so, whether there are any plans to make it dual carriageway in future.

Tavish Scott: The A68 Dalkeith bypass will be constructed as a single carriageway with climbing lanes in accordance with the Orders which were made in 1993. There are no plans to upgrade to dual carriageway in the future.

Roads

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-7959 by Tavish Scott on 3 November 2005, whether it will investigate urgently the safety of the A76, consequent to the fatal accident involving a school bus one mile north of Auldgirth on 22 November 2005.

Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive’s Accident Investigation and Prevention (AIP) Unit investigate all fatal accidents which occur on the trunk road network. Investigations into the circumstances of the accident at Auldgirth on 22 November 2005 are underway.

  More generally the safety performance of the trunk road network is monitored annually and a programme of AIP measures are implemented to mitigate identified problem areas. The 2005 annual review of accidents on the trunk road network is about to commence and will identify AIP schemes for implementation in 2006. The potential for further AIP schemes at accident cluster sites on the A76 Trunk Road will be considered and prioritised for implementation.

Scottish Executive Contracts

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20283 by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005, whether these extra costs that must be met by the contractor result from their contract with the Executive and, if so, whether it will provide details.

Tavish Scott: Under the contract, the contractor is responsible for the design and construction of the works. As I said in my reply to you on 17 November 2005 the amount of any extra costs incurred by the contractor is not known to the Scottish Executive.

Scottish Executive Funding

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for the provision of New Futures funding after 31 March 2006.

Allan Wilson: We are currently in discussion with key stakeholders. I will be making an announcement shortly.

Scottish Executive Grants

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans its (a) Education, (b) Justice, (c) Health, (d) Environment and Rural Affairs, (e) Finance and Central Services, (f) Enterprise and (g) Transport and Lifelong Learning Department and the Office of the Permanent Secretary have to simplify and reduce the length and number of the documents that they require applicants to complete in respect of (i) applications for, and approval of, grants to voluntary organisations and (ii) the monitoring of the use of grants and the benefits delivered.

Malcolm Chisholm: A new voluntary sector grant application pack, including a range of standard grant conditions, has been rolled out across the Scottish Executive. This will help reduce the bureaucracy and workload associated with applying for Executive grants. Work is also underway on the development of a lead funder pilot which is designed to introduce a single door approach to funding and a single point of accountability, which should eliminate the need for multiple monitoring.

Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19646 by Mr Tom McCabe on 2 November 2005, when it will pay out the remainder of the £126 million which it agreed to pay out in ex-gratia payments from the Scottish Transport Group pension funds surplus.

Mr Tom McCabe: It is anticipated that if valid claims continue to be received in the same numbers then it will be late 2007 before the balance of the funds are dispersed.

Sport

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31383 by Dr Elaine Murray on 18 November 2002, how much additional money has been allocated to school sport in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1998-99.

Patricia Ferguson: I refer the member to the question S1W-33868 answered on 17 February 2003 and to the questions S2W-13717 and S2W-13718 answered on 2 February 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  In addition to the information contained in previous answers, through the Out of School Hours Learning programme in partnership with sportscotland, the Big Lottery Fund, awarded West Dunbartonshire £41,400 in 2004-05 and £13,736 in 2005-06 with East Dunbartonshire awarded £20,000 in 2004-05 and £18,666 in 2005-06.

  Both local authorities are fully involved in Active Schools and for 2005-06, West Dunbartonshire has been awarded £298,180 with East Dunbartonshire awarded £450,188.

  Sportscotland provides guidance and financial support for the development and promotion of sport and physical activities around the school day but the organisation of school sport such as inter-school competitions is a matter for headteachers and ultimately local authorities.

Sport

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to support a sporting culture for children and young people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Patricia Ferguson: The Executive's aim is to increase participation in sport at all age levels and in particular instil healthy positive attitudes in our children and young people towards sport and physical activity in all parts of Scotland. To assist that objective the Executive has invested significant additional resources in the Active Schools network.  Sportscotland will work with all education authorities including West and East Dunbartonshire towards achieving this objective.

  The Executive has also made a significant commitment to provide more time for physical education, more teachers of physical education and more choice in physical education.

Sport

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how children and young people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area will benefit from the 2014 Commonwealth Games if Glasgow's bid to host the Games is successful.

Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive believes children and young people across Scotland, including those in West and East Dunbartonshire, will benefit from a successful bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

  A successful bid will place sport at the forefront of public consciousness. It will therefore complement existing strategies aimed at encouraging all Scots to be physically active, increasing access to first class facilities and allowing all, particularly the young, to reach their potential.

Transport

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in respect of developing the Fife bus and train interchange at Markinch.

Tavish Scott: Fife Council has invited tenders to design and build Markinch interchange, with a closing date of 9 December 2005. The council intends that construction will begin in April 2006, with the project completed by summer 2007.

Voluntary Sector

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to emphasise to organisations working with vulnerable people that their staff and volunteers should remain vigilant in respect of inappropriate behaviour and not rely entirely on the disclosure system.

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what training and support it provides to voluntary organisations in respect of (a) maintaining appropriate behaviour with young or vulnerable people and (b) the operation of the disclosure system.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has established and funds the Central Registered Body in Scotland (CRBS) which provides free disclosure checks for volunteers in the voluntary sector working with children, young people and vulnerable adults. In addition, the CRBS provides a wide range of training and support services on the legislation covering the disclosure system; the responsibilities of organisations; the criteria of registration; required policies to be introduced by organisations; how to negotiate the registration process and how basic, standard and enhanced disclosures should be undertaken. The CRBS also helps organisations interpret disclosure certificates, though it does not advise on whether an individual should be recruited.

Voluntary Sector

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to increase the number of people who have taken part in voluntary activities in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area since 1997 and what indicators there are of success in this regard.

Malcolm Chisholm: There are a wide range of Scottish Executive initiatives designed to increase volunteering activity in Scotland that will impact on both East and West Dunbartonshire. These are:

  The Volunteering Strategy, with ProjectScotland, a new full time volunteering programme for young people at its centre;

  The funding of the CVS and LVC networks that support local voluntary and volunteering activity and which have been awarded funding of over £16 million for the next three years;

  The refocused Millennium Volunteers programme, which is designed to sustain volunteering and promote a sense of community involvement for young people aged 16 to 25, and

  General support for infrastructure bodies that provide a range of support services to the voluntary sector across Scotland.

  Each of these initiatives and organisations has set targets and performance indicators that are monitored and reported on each year. Volunteering activity generally is also monitored through the Scottish Household Survey, which can be accessed at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/16002/4031.